Pawprints
by ImDefinitelySane
Summary: The Joker set a trap for our little bird and now he and Wally have to learn to live with paws and a tail before they can figure out how to turn back. Birdflash. Kid flash x Robin. Wally x Dick. Don't like don't read.
1. Patrol

I grown as the bliss of unconsciousness abandons me, leaving the aches and pains that come with awareness. Well at least thats what I thought would happen. It's not often you lose consciousness in a trap set by the Joker and wake up painless. Unless i'm dead. Which would suck.

I keep my eyes shut tightly as I try and remember the moments before I went dark. Bats had urgent business to attend to at the watchtower and had trusted me to patrol on my own for the first time. I was excited until the moment came to actually go on patrol. Filled with self-doubt I called Wally and asked how he felt about a night in gotham. He was there in a matter of minutes and after a brief snack we left for patrol.

It had been quiet that night but that just made me all the more uneasy. Gotham is never quiet. Wally insisted I was worrying over nothing, and when the alarms went off, he teased me for being relieved.

The alarm lead us to a pet shop. I raised an eyebrow at it and Wally made a stupid joke that I can't remember now. We made our way off the rooftops and glanced around for whatever had set off the alarm. Not finding anything I suggested scanning the near by streets and alleys.

Wally told me to go ahead while he struggled to get the animals back in there pens. I remember giggling as he received a rather nasty scratch from a very unhappy gray cat. And then...and then I heard the chuckling. I recognised it immediately and I turned from my friend to try and locate it.

I remeber my eyes widening at the 'thud' of my only back up falling to the ground, the animals he had managed to return to their cages hissing and barking.

I quickly turn only to stumble back when the Joker is standing only a few inches away from me. He smirks and whispers a 'good bye little bird' before spraying what I thought at the time was Joker Venom. That;s when I lost consciousness.

I am definitely dead. I have to be. There's no way The Joker would let me live after having me in his grasp. It is likely that Wally suffered a similar fate and I whimper as the realization that I just got my best friend killed sinks in.

I open my eyes at the strange sensation of that seems to be something licking my face. What greets me when I open them causes my to hiss and jump back in surprise. A dog looks down at me with bright green eyes. It's fur the unnatural colors of yellow and red and now that I get a better look they resemble Wallys Kid Flash costume.

Wait...A dog is looking down at me? Even sitting down I should be taller than a dog, but this one towers over me even though i'm standing. My ears lay flat- wait what? I glance down at my feet only to find them replaced with small black paws. I glance around looking for something that will show my reflection.

My eyes land on the glass of one of the puppy pens in the petshop. I stare wide eyed at the reflection of a red and black cat. It has bits of gold that resemble the belt and clasps of my costume. In fact all the markings vaguely resembled my suit.

"...Im a cat!?" I yowl in a mix of shock and horror. I don't even like cats! I hadn't expected a response but today is just full of surprises.

"And i'm a dog. Any ideas how it happened?" I recognize the dogs voice as Wally's and glance up at him. His eyes are calm and I assume he had his go at a mental breakdown before I woke.

"Wally?" I ask looking for confirmation. He nods again and repeats his previous question. It doesn't take me long to put two and two together and come up with four. I tense up and flick my newly found tail as I hiss out the name.

"Joker."


	2. Food?

"The Joker?" He asks in surprise and I remember that he had been knocked out before he had a chance to see his attacker. It doesn't matter how fast you are if your brain doesn't have enough time to decipher the command 'run'. I walk past him awkwardly, out into the street.

I glance up at the sky, taking his course and playing it back. We hadn't been asleep for more than a few hours and we still had some time to track down the Joker...Though I don't know what we could do in our current...condition…

"Come on. I'll explain later. We don't want to be here when the owner returns to open shop...He might try and see us…" KF laughs and walks up next to me nudging me with the back of his paw.

"Sell us!" Dude, have you seen our fur? We'd end up in a freak show!" I force myself not to flinch. Wally has long since made it clear how he feels about circus performers. It's probably the second biggest reason why I haven't told him of my past. Bats being the first.

"All the same, We should head out. Try and find the Joker. Try and fix…" I pause and I guster at my new body. "This."

The KF themed dog laughs at my inability to walk properly one all four le-paws. I quickly adjust and I hear a soft 'show off' from my K9 friend. I assume it took him longer to grow accustomed to his paws and I make a mental note to hack the security cameras for blackmail material latter. Preferably when I have opposable thumbs.

I glance around the dark streets of gotham, feeling even more uneasy than I did when we first started out on patrol. I flatten myself to the ground trying to stay hidden. Things are always more intimidating when you are no more than a foot tall… Wally trots out to join me, taking none of the same precautions.

"So...Any idea where we're going? Everything looks different, and I barely knew Gotham before the shrink down." I raise an eyebrow at his word choice before fiddling with my mental map of Gotham to accommodate the side difference.

OK. Now I know how to get wherever it is we're going. If only I knew where that was.

The closest safe place we could go is Wayne Manor, and Alfred would never let Pup Flash and Robin the cat wonder in. He's not a fan of the mess strays bring with them. I learned that the hard way.

That leaves the zeta tubes scattered around the city. I doubt the would be able to make a positive ID on out animal forms, and I definitely won't be able to hack them with paws...Plus the team would never let us live this down.

Then there was the Joker. He is likely to only one that knows how to change us back and he's probably long gone by now. But you never know with the Joker…

I turn to speak with KF only to find he's no longer standing behind me. My mouth hangs open with a half formed word. Worry is the first this that registers in my mind. Had the Joker come back? Had I screwed up again?

I hear a scratching noise from the alley left of the pet shop. I walk pressed against the wall and stay hidden within the shadow of the binding. It being the middle of the night this made me virtually invisible. I peek around the corner and I pull back in disgust at what I see. Well at least Wally's ok...Maybe not in the head…

The bright red flank of a Pup Flash is sticking out of a dumpster. His back paws are scraping the side as he tries to steady himself. I feel sick..

"D-dude! That's a dumpster!" I call and he pulls his head out of it holding some form of fast food hamburger in his mouth. He tosses it into the air, snapping his jaws into it on its way down. A look of pure disgust is plastered on my face.

"What, I'm hungry! And we haven't eaten anything since before we went out on patrol! A man...dog's got to eat!" I stare at the yellow and red dog with wide eyes. I'm shocked into silence for a moment before I say the sentence my brain can't seem to get past.

"...Dude, that's a dumpster." I feel I have to emphasize the word dumpster because he didn't seem to understand the first time. His back legs frantically claw at the side as he starts to slip but he somehow manages to steady himself again. After moving into a slightly more steady position he counters my blunt objection.

"Look, we have to eat. and our fur rules out begging. so unless you want to start stealing from shops, I suggest you lower your standards." As much as I hate to admit it he has a point...and I don't plan on going against the morals I've spent years fighting for...But a dumpster?

He returns to digging through the garbage and pulls out another fast food, maybe hamburger patty. He tosses it at me and I flinch away lifting my paw to avoid the..thing hitting it. I stare at it in disgust. I didn't eat this stuff when it hadn't been in a dumpster. I hesitantly poke it with my paw and the 'shish' sound it makes seals the deal.

"I'm not eating that." I say bluntly. And I hear KF fall from his place on the dumpster. He recovers quickly and stands up walking toward me.

"Suit yourself. I'll find something else for you when you get hungry later." I get the distinct feeling that he means out of a dumpster and I cringe. He picks up the 'food' he had offered me and eats it himself. How can he be so ok with this!? It's like he's used to eating out of dumpsters! Oh. My ears lay flat as I remember Wally's relationship with his parents. I decide to remain quiet and just follow him as he walks out of the alley.

That is until I'm pinned to the ground, low growling coming from the one pinning me. I try and call out to Wally but he's no longer in the alley and I can't call loud enough with the paw digging into my throat. I can't breath. I twist my body to try and get a better look at my attacker and maybe wiggle free. My eyes widen at what I see.

A cat more than twice my size is glaring down at me, his black fur bristling. two other cats not quite as big are circling around me. The black cat that's pinning me digs his paw deeper into my throat.

The large scar running across his left eye is the last thing I register before I black out.


End file.
